Ding-dong~
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong…
When no one answered the door, An Yuan grabbed the spare key from the shoe cabinet outside Chen Cheng's apartment and let himself in.
Inside, the apartment was pitch black. The curtains were drawn tightly, blocking out all sources of light.
Carrying the meat swallow dumplings he had brought up, he carefully navigated through the darkness toward the second bedroom, calling out in a hushed voice, "Chengcheng? Chengcheng?"
An Yuan frowned in concern.
Even though he felt he had been giving his buddy plenty of attention these past few days, he still worried it wasn't enough.
The slight change in Chen Cheng's tone over the phone had made him rush upstairs without hesitation.
At the end of the day, it was because of him that Chen Cheng had been caught up in this bizarre situation.
If it weren't for him, neither of them would've time traveled, and Chen Cheng wouldn't have ended up as a woman.
Standing outside the second bedroom, An Yuan lightly knocked twice. "Chengcheng?"
There was a faint noise from inside. After a moment's hesitation, he pushed the door open and looked into the room.
In his mind, Chen Cheng should have been curled up on the bed like a miserable little shrimp, clutching her stomach in pain, groaning and rolling around, drowning in gloom and silent tears.
The reality?
Chen Cheng was sitting cross-legged in front of her computer, wearing headphones, bobbing her head to the music—while browsing an adult website.
"…"
Well. That was a wasted concern.
An Yuan stepped forward and flicked Chen Cheng on the forehead.
"AHH! Who—what the hell!"
Chen Cheng yelped in shock, her whole body trembling.
She scrambled to switch the adult tab to a gaming stream, yanking off her headphones in a single, seamless motion.
Tab switch. Headphones off. Whole process: under one second.
Then she turned her head to see An Yuan standing beside her. She let out a sigh of relief. "I thought my mom came back! Scared me to death."
"Didn't you tell me to come up after my shower?"
"I thought you weren't coming, so I was about to watch a drama, shower, and sleep." Chen Cheng grabbed his arm, excitedly sharing her discovery. "Look at this! You can find all sorts of spicy stuff online now! No filters at all! So much better than how annoying it was later on."
An Yuan bent down to glance at her screen. The explicit images plastered across the page left him momentarily speechless.
He sneaked a glance at Chen Cheng's face. With her glasses on, she looked like an innocent, pure little bookworm—a picture-perfect, well-behaved girl.
No one would ever guess she was a total LSP (lewd, shameless pervert).
But An Yuan had known Chen Cheng for years.
He still remembered that back in elementary school, he was the one who had dragged Chen Cheng into discovering the "wonders" of the internet for the first time… Back then, Chen Cheng had been too scared to look, covering his eyes with both hands—but the gaps between his fingers had been very wide open.
"Uh… just… stay hygienic."
"Huh?"
An Yuan lifted the bag in his hand. "Meat swallow dumplings. Want some? I'll cook them for you."
"Sure! I'll keep listening to music then."
Chen Cheng put her headphones back on, curling her legs up and wrapping her arms around her ankles, swaying her whole body in rhythm with the melody.
A few moments later, she suddenly realized why An Yuan had told her to "stay hygienic."
"You perv! Not everyone is like you!" She turned to scold him, but An Yuan had already left for the kitchen. Her expression softened as she glanced down at herself in thought.
"Guess I should take a shower…"
Grabbing a set of pajamas, she hurried into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, eager to experiment.
Rumor had it that a woman's experience was ten times better than a man's!
And there was no cooldown!
—But doing anything to this new body still felt a little wrong.
Not to mention—she was still on her period.
Suddenly, she lost all interest.
<+>
Meat swallow dumplings were a local specialty, similar to wontons, but with a completely different texture.
An Yuan had eaten this kind of thing so much as a kid that he was sick of it. But now, as he cooked the meat swallow dumplings, the aroma made him a little hungry.
Like Chen Cheng, he had barely spent time at home since starting university, usually only coming back during the Lunar New Year.
The difference was, he was genuinely busy, while Chen Cheng deliberately avoided her nagging mother, who constantly pestered her about marriage.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
An Yuan absentmindedly touched the tip of his nose, and an image of Chen Cheng showering flashed through his mind.
Frustrated, he pulled out his phone and tried to distract himself with a novel.
No wonder people said it was hard for men and women to have a purely platonic friendship.
He and Chen Cheng were close enough to have practically shared underwear, yet he still had these ridiculous thoughts about her from time to time.
It was pure instinct—something no amount of willpower could change.
Chen Cheng showered quickly. Within ten minutes, she was out, dressed in a loose T-shirt and shorts, jogging into the dining area.
"An Yuan! Is it ready?"
"Yeah."
—She wasn't wearing a bra again!
An Yuan glanced at her casually, then quickly looked down, pretending to focus on scooping out the dumplings.
With her loose T-shirt, her breasts were bouncing a little too freely. But since she had just showered and wasn't planning on going out, it wasn't exactly unreasonable. He really had no right to comment…
"Here." He handed her a bowl.
"Are you even capable of cooking properly?" Chen Cheng suspiciously stirred the soup, mixing in the seasoning. "You managed to burn a fried egg once and still expect me to trust you?"
"That was ages ago! I cook all the time now."
"Really? I just order takeout. I can't cook at all."
Chen Cheng took a sip of the soup, blowing on it twice before tasting it. Only then did she relax.
She glanced at An Yuan, who was sitting across the long table—nearly two meters away. Without hesitation, she picked up her bowl and moved to sit right next to him, habitually propping one foot up on the chair.
Her shorts were knee-length but loose-fitting. As she bent her knee, the fabric naturally slid down, revealing a fair stretch of her thigh.
"Ah Yuan, what do you think we should do in the future?" she asked. "We can't just live the same way as before, with you slaving away at some job and me writing novels. Wouldn't that make time traveling pointless?"
An Yuan forced his drifting gaze back up. "We'll see. Right now, let's just focus on getting through the college entrance exams."
"Do we really have to take those?" Chen Cheng pouted. As a girl, her expressions were far more animated—and, honestly, a little too cute. "I don't wanna study."
Her legs were so fair. She smelled so nice. Even without a bra, her shape still looked so…
An Yuan abruptly looked away. "I'll head out after we eat."
He felt disgusted. Not with Chen Cheng, but with himself. He wanted to slap himself awake.
"So soon? You're already here, might as well stay and play a game with me!" Chen Cheng nudged him. "Has It Takes Two been released yet? I've been looking for someone to play with! But you're always busy."
"Not out yet. And I'm worried your mom might come back suddenly. That'd be awkward."
"Hey! We sound like we're sneaking around having an affair or something!"
"???"
Could she think before she spoke?
An Yuan almost choked, rolling his eyes. "Are you done eating? I'll do the dishes."
"Go ahead, I can't touch cold water during my period." Chen Cheng shamelessly pushed her empty bowl toward him.
The pressure of being around her was getting worse…
An Yuan sighed helplessly, deliberately slowing down his meal, hoping she'd leave first. Otherwise, if he stood up now, certain things would be way too obvious.
But Chen Cheng just stayed put, playing on her phone, as if waiting for him.
"You can go play on your computer. You don't have to wait for me."
"Alright, I'll head out then."
"Oh, and make sure you switch to a nighttime pad or sleep pants before bed. Otherwise, you'll wake up to a bloody mess again."
"Nighttime pad? Oh~ I saw that in an ad! I'll go look for one."
Watching her mumble as she walked away, An Yuan finally let out a long breath.
Maybe he should get a girlfriend.
At the very least, it might help him stay calm around his bro.
Anything to avoid these awkward thoughts.
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 57: Breaktime Exercise[2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/128679946?collection=1362427[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1362427?view=condensed[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1362427?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/128679946?collection=1362427
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/128679946?collection=1362427
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1362427?view=condensed